Byron's head slumped, and as Clark checked with his x-ray vision he saw the murderer's heart grow still. Falmer's aim had been perfect as always. "Couldn't you have winged him Brett?" Clark looked up to see his ex-partner standing over his kill with a smile on his face.
Falmer shrugged, "I figure I did society a service removing that scum. He was a kid killer for pity's sake! Oh, and don't thank me for saving your ass..." The offended detective waved a hand in contempt then moved away, not wanting to argue with someone he usually felt highly of.
Lois watched him go, then moved in to give Clark a piece of her own mind. "He has a point you know?" She offered as Kent finally stood away from the body. "I mean if he hadn't fired, Moore would have had you...you still hadn't drawn your gun. What is it with you?"
"We needed Moore's testimony to get Luthor. A dying killer's last word, only heard by one cop just isn't enough evidence. Everything else we have is purely circumstantial..."
"He named Luthor?" Lois appeared surprised, "but we still don't know why your old friend Lex wants these kids killed..."
At last Lois was seeing Clark's point of view, although even if they had all the evidence required, he still wouldn't have wanted Moore dead. Death was something Clark believed only nature itself should be allowed to control.
Saddened, he looked over to where Lana was gently being untied. Tears streamed down her petite features; bringing home the true horrors she had been through. Hadn't life already put her through enough with her parents, without this?
"Just give me a minute...?" Clark gestured towards Lana and Lois nodded, understanding that he was the best to deal with the distraught widow.
As he neared, Lana instinctively glanced up. "Clark? I knew you were in the police but..." More tears came in abundance, and this time Lana didn't even try to hold them back.
Clark hugged her, letting her feel safe in his arms for a moment despite his colleagues' presence. Comforting one another was something they had always done in times of sorrow, and no matter what, Clark wouldn't deny her that now.
When the sobbing at last abated Clark pulled tenderly from her fearful grip. "You're safe now. I wouldn't ever let anyone hurt you..." The compassion in his eyes told her his words were never more sincere. "I want you to get checked out by the medics, and I'll be back. I just have to go check on the kid. Okay?"
For a brief moment her tiny hands grabbed back at him, not wanting to ever be alone again. Then, when she saw the sallow ten year old rocking back and forth a short distance away, she capitulated. She may be alone in the world now, but so was this poor kid, and right now he looked almost ready to collapse.
"I'll be fine..." Unconvincingly she began wiping her reddening face with a hanky Clark offered. "Go help him...it's what you do best." She smiled, and the detective returned it with the 'farm boy' grin, that few in Metropolis had ever seen.
Kent turned then, breaking Lana's gaze to approach the kid. Daryl still sat where he had been untied, a medic trying in vain to gain his cooperation. He wouldn't speak, and his frail arms jerked away every time someone tried to touch him. As Clark watched him he was abruptly reminded of Ryan. The youth's short dark hair, wiry frame, and look of both despondency and yet knowledge was an uncanny similarity.
"Hey Daryl..." Clark turned on the soft Kent charm. He didn't know why, but he always had some uncanny ability to soothe those in need, "mind if I talk to you? I can get this guy to stop bugging you..." The cop nodded for the E.M.T. to back off, and guessing his motive the medic complied.
Daryl glanced up, his dark eyes looking like deep inexplicable pits in the gloomy light. "I have no family now...just like you and Lana..." A lock of the kid's disheveled hair fell across his eye and he flicked it back, wincing at the pain it caused in his neck.
Clark noted the twinge, but was more surprised by what had been said. "I have a family. I even have a sister your age?"
Daryl frowned. "I know, but they're not you're real family. That's why you can do things..." He sighed, sitting further back on the stool as a pounding in his head began to turn into a crescendo of sound.
Clark gaped at the kid, hoping no one nearby had overheard their conversation. It was no secret he was adopted, but how did Daryl know more? The comparison with Ryan came back to mind with an amazing clarity. Had the Luthors tried to recreate Ryan's abilities somehow? Lex had known too much about him, had even had him stay at the mansion...
"Can you read my mind? See the things I'm thinking?"
Daryl exhaled, biting his lip as if he had let some deep, dark secret into the light. "Nope, I can't read minds...but I see things..." A thin trickle of blood appeared under the kid's nose and he wiped it away without even pausing. More of the essential red liquid soon followed, dribbling down his chin like some minute waterfall. "He won't give in you know. Not until I'm dead too..."
Alarmed at the nosebleed, Clark leaned till he was level with Daryl's head. "Listen, we need to get you checked out for that..."
Daryl shook his head, causing more throbbing. "No time...He'll go to any lengths. Even you must be careful. No one is safe..."
"When you say 'he' you mean Luthor?" Clark was straight to the point now. There was always so much to lose, and never enough to gain on this case. Daryl nodded shyly. "Okay, well you don't need to worry about him. Whatever you've seen, I'm about to change. I want to help you Daryl...but I need to know how you see things?" Clark was cajoling now, not for the case, but because he didn't want this kid to end up like Ryan.
Daryl tapped the side of his skull. "I have something in here, something the other kids had too. Normal people don't have it..."
The words sounded harsh and cold to Clark, even though the kid had spoken them himself. All that he could think of was the hospital bed where he had last seen Ryan. An evil twist of nature had been one thing, but anger welled deep within to think that Lionel, and indeed Lex could have done this on purpose.
"How are you two doing?" Lois looked at the wane kid before her and handed over a piece of tissue for his nose. "You look like you've been prizefighting!" Her jovial attitude brought a smile to his face, and he wiped away the drying blood to reveal another side to his personality.
"I was just trying to convince him to let a medic look him over, but he's as stubborn as you..." Clark looked at his partner and winked, letting her know he really thought the kid needed coaxing to a hospital, and this was his way of doing it.
Daryl however was one step ahead. He sighed like a forty year old, then crossed his arms in despair. "It's okay Clark, no need to hide things. I already know Lois will convince me to see an old friend of her dad's at the hospital..."
Lois gawked, amazed that the kid had some kind of sixth sense as to what she was thinking. "How did you...?"
Clark couldn't help but smile at her astonishment. Daryl was a smart and very special kid, now he only hoped and prayed that in the ten years since Ryan, modern medicine would have developed enough to save him. "Seeing as you know where we are going, let's hop to it..."
Metropolis Memorial Hospital.
Two Hours Later...
One phone call to Lane's father was all it has taken to surpass a very brusque secretary, and a large waiting room with several irate patients. Dr Mark Porter was said to be the very best in his field, and if Clark's suspicions were correct, only the best would do. If nothing else, Lane had come through on this one in a way he never could have. Strength and abilities were not, and never would be the answer to everything.
She smiled at him as they waited in Porter's office. The doctor and his patient had been gone some time now, working on a long and tiresome batch of tests. "You really like that kid, don't you?"
"He reminds me of someone I lost...I don't want to lose him too." Clark squirmed at the very suggestion, and suddenly realized that he hated the scent of these places. The faint antiseptic smell that invaded his nostrils always brought back bad memories.
Lane understood. She had noted the expression when Clark had seen the kid's nosebleed, and now bringing him here to a top neurosurgeon just confirmed what he was thinking. There was more now though, because finally the case was beginning to fit together. "Do you think the kids had something in their heads, a tumor or chip maybe that Luthor wanted to hide?"
"I think ten years ago the Luthors took their experiments a little too far, and now it's come back to haunt them. Once these kids started showing their gifts, they had to be neutralized..." Clark's tone grew angry and he began pacing Porter's expensively carpeted floor with a vengeance. "Surely there was another way..."
The well-oiled door clicked open behind them and Porter's burly redheaded secretary poked her head in. "The doctor would like a word now..."
She beckoned them into a side exam room, where Daryl was sat quietly waiting in a hospital gown. He looked up excitedly as they entered, and Clark felt a sudden pang of guilt for leaving him alone at such a traumatic time. The kid has no one now...
"You do realize I could get into a lot of trouble for taking a look at young Mr. Weiss here?" Porter looked disapprovingly over his thin rimmed glasses at Lois. "Shouldn't you at least be finding any next of kin?" Lois pulled a face at the fifty-six year old surgeon and he huffed, raising a brow at Clark. "I pity you son, having to work with Lois here. I've known her since she was a baby, and she always gets what she wants."
Clark was starting to realize just the same thing, for now though his concern lay with the kid watching him with those ever so dark, soulful eyes. "Can you help us then? I mean with Daryl...?" The cop didn't want to voice his thoughts in case there was bad news, but Porter smiled, his tapering moustache curling at the edges with pleasure.
"Daryl's going to be just fine," he unconsciously pulled his glasses down to peer over them. "Do you want to pop back in there with my assistants and get yourself cleaned up? I'm sure we can find you something to wear with a little less blood on. I just need a word with the detectives here."
The ten year old obeyed the surgeon without question. It was as if he had some precognitive knowledge of who he could, and could not trust. Pausing at the door, he turned and briefly waved at Clark, silently asking not to be left for too long. Kent nodded back, and once the door was closed turned back to Porter.
"How bad is it? Can you do anything?"
Porter ambled to a nearby wall mounted screen and flicked it on. One side showed x-rays, the other several much more complicated scans of his young patient's brain. "I don't want to bore you with my overzealous medical details, but our young friend appears to have a small growth..." The surgeon pointed at the odd shape that seemed not to belong on any of the pictures.
Clark gulped. It was what he had feared all along. Maybe if he'd had the nerve to use his own x-ray vision sooner he would have already known, but somehow it just hadn't seemed right. Perhaps he had thought if he didn't see it, it wouldn't exist, but here it was anyway, staring back from the scans like some malignant extension of Luthor's evilness.
"Is it benign?" Lois looked at Porter hopefully, but he shook his head and both detectives' hearts sank together.
Porter huffed again at their dour expressions. "Bah! You cops are always so easy to think the worst. It isn't benign or malignant, because it isn't a tumor..." He looked almost smug as he continued his oratory. "Daryl has an extra mass on his parietal lobe...but every test I take comes back the same. The growth appears to be nothing more than extra brain tissue. Not that I'm saying that isn't strange in itself, because it is..."
Clark waved a hand, butting into the lecture with both relief and disbelief. "If it can't hurt him, why the nosebleed and headaches? I saw them myself..."
"Did you ask the boy about that?" Porter nodded wisely before they even replied, knowing they hadn't. "Your villain whacked him on the back of the head with a sword hilt. It's a wonder he stayed conscious...I would recommend you get him somewhere quiet to rest up, he has a slight concussion."
"But the thing in his head can't hurt him?" Clark had to ask again, to know that this kid was going to live.
Porter took a seat at his desk, growing tired of repeating things to this cop as if he were lecturing a first year med student. "I've never seen anything like it, but I see no reason for it to cause him any problems. In the very rare textbook cases I've read on this kind of thing, there has even been some talk of E.S.P. like abilities..."
Clark and Lois glanced at one another, suddenly wanting to exit the stuffy little room, even though it was air conditioned. Porter was a good man, but could he be trusted with Daryl's newly found secret? No one doubted his integrity, but his life could be put in danger should he know any more at this stage.
Lois made the first and decisive move. "I know you put yourself on a limb to help me out Mark, and I can't thank you enough, but we really should get the kid to a safe house."
The doctor understood, he had grandchildren of his own, and since the 'Rainman' case hit the news they were never far from his thoughts. "Just be careful Lois, Detective Kent." He tipped his head acknowledging the couple, and as they reached the door to where Daryl awaited he shouted back. "Oh, and Lois, tell your dad I still don't see his daughter as a cop..."
As the pair hurried to retrieve one very special kid, they heard the chuckling of a very fun loving and punctilious doctor...
Chloe Sullivan's Apartment.
A Few Hours Later ...
Clark peeled back his jacket and unhooked his keys from his belt. With just the feel of the metal, he sensed which was the correct one for Chloe's door and popped it in the lock. Lana watched with a smile.
"You have a set of keys to Chloe's place?"
Before the young cop could respond Pete Ross, who until now had remained silent in all his officialdom decided it was time to play. He leaned over mysteriously and whispered in Lana's ear as if it were some state secret. "Don't you know cops have a key to any lock?"
Lana had heard that, but somehow she doubted it was relevant in this case. She knew Chloe had been with Clark for some time now, and was surprised the two hadn't gotten engaged yet. "I think Clark is too much of a gentleman to ever go in a girl's home without permission." She gazed back at Pete as they entered. He looked so different in his formal attire. Somehow suits just didn't seem to fit his personality. "And besides Pete, Chloe did say I could stay here a few days..."
Pete winked at Clark. "Yeah well I think you're crazy rooming with the press after all this! I mean you know how Chloe can be if there's a story..."
"If Chloe were here you'd feel the weight of her purse on your head, Mayor or not for that comment." Clark offered Lana a chair then heard a sharp acidic voice from the kitchen and had to laugh.
"Pete Ross watch what you say in my home!" Chloe poked her head around the door. "You don't think I could stay at work when the big story was waiting for me back here do you?"
In truth Clark had expected Chloe here, and for once it wasn't just for the story. They had gone through some bad patches back in Smallville, but in the end all four had still come out as friends. Chloe wouldn't desert those friends now. Of the original Smallville group, only Lex was missing...
"So you guys want coffee?" The intrepid reporter asked the question, but was already headed from the kitchen with a tray. It held four steaming mugs of Chloe's finest brew.
Lana took a mug gratefully and cradled it in her hand. She looked silently around the spacious and well organized room with just a little jealousy. Chloe had everything, and once again she had nothing. Byron had been her whole world, and now that world had collapsed again. She stifled the urge to cry. She needed to stay strong in front of everyone; because there was a favor she wanted to ask.
Pete noticed the awkward silence first, and gently put an arm around her. He had tried to put on a jovial front for everyone's sake, as he always did, but if Lana needed reassuring he could do that too. "Are you alright?"
Lana nodded, sipping her drink before carefully wording her next sentence. "Daryl and I are all alone now, and well I kind of took a liking to the little guy. Do you think when all this mess is over, you could swing it so I got temporary custody of him Pete? I mean you know he'd be safe?"
Taken aback the Mayor, Chloe, and even Clark stared in silence. There was nothing wrong with the idea, but it was so unlike the old Lana to be so positive and resolute. Pete shrugged. "I can look into it, but even I don't have much pull in that department..."
"And until we catch Luthor, Daryl has to stay in our custody." Clark added.
The mention of Lex brought the ace journalist back out in Chloe and she jumped onto Clark's knees with a thud. Wrapping her arms around his neck she gave him her best doe eyed expression. "Speaking of Luthor...do you have anything to wet my reporter's appetite on this case?"
Clark looked to the ceiling in exasperation and wished he had offered Lana to stay at his place instead. Chloe would interrogate everyone she deemed necessary to get this scoop. "You know I can't give you details of an ongoing investigation Chloe!"
Chloe peeled herself from his lap and bounced down on her soft pink sofa, right between Lana and Pete. "Ha! I don't need your help, I have my own source at the police department. I never could get anything from your notes, you don't make any till it's too late, whereas your new partner..."
Clark scowled, knowing somehow Chloe had a line on Lois's laptop and all that lay within. He chose not to ask anymore questions on the subject for fear of what answers he would get. "So, continue with your theory..."
Apparently they think the Luthors were experimenting with genetic engineering ten years ago, and 'altered' certain I.V.F. kids D.N.A. Without the clinics or parents consent I might add..." She glanced around to see if anyone wanted to interject, then continued. "Of course, now the kids began to all act strangely and Lex wanted to hide his, and dear dead dad's indiscretions..."
Lana looked horrified at the suggestions. "I just don't see Lex having kids beheaded over some long forgotten experiment."
Chloe frowned, now this was the Lana she knew, so naive and trustworthy. "Lana, from what I can see, Lex was the one blackmailing Byron. The preliminary police report says he was never cured. All Luthorcorp ever gave him was a treatment, and that could easily have been withheld to coerce him into those murders..."
"Chloe!" Clark was both annoyed and upset at how insensitive she could be some times. Lana had just lost her husband, and was getting the gory details of his hidden past whether she wanted them or not. He shot his overly enthusiastic girlfriend a warning glance.
The reporter finally took the hint and put a hand to her mouth, gently biting her lip. "Sorry Lana. I guess I just wasn't thinking."
Lana nodded. "It's alright. At least I know Byron had a reason behind what he did now..."
"And I won't let his death be in vain." Clark put a hand to his old friend's shoulder affectionately, "I won't stop till I put Luthor behind bars for this. Lois is arranging Daryl's safe house, and the cover roster, then we're going to pay Lex a little visit."
Pete looked knowingly and fearfully at Clark. "Lord help Luthor if he doesn't come up with the right answers..."
Senator Lex Luthor's Office.
Lois looked around the area that was occupied by Lex's secretary and sighed. The office space it took up could hold at least half their homicide department. It was just one of the things that had hit her as soon as she had entered this over lavish building. Another had been the huge and extensive collection of oil paintings that adorned the walls. She was no expert, but so far she had spotted at least two Turner's and a Renoir.
"Impressive isn't it?" Clark let his eyes roam the walls and furniture. "You'll probably find Lex is just as imposing."
"You still have respect for this guy, don't you?" Lane looked from the secretary's empty post and wished she would hasten her return, "I mean after all you know about him..."
Clark pursed his lips, not really paying attention to their conversation because he was busy scanning Luthor's office. "I guess you could call it a grudging respect at most."
Lois nodded knowingly and the door finally opened. Luthor's blonde and very attractive 'personal assistant' appeared and ushered them in. "Mr. Luthor will see you now..." Her hand gestured for them to enter and the pair obliged.
Inside Clark found the quarters even more immoderate than he would have expected. The room was functional, but also told a tale of its owner's prolific wealth. Hidden from all but his gaze were secret compartments in the abundance of cabinets and shelving. One contained a tiny refrigerator, holding nothing but bottles of Tynant water, another held a vast bar. Everything was typical of the Lex he used to know, everything save the fact that he now shared the room with a murderer.
"It's good to see you again Clark, although I take it you're here in some official capacity?" Lex sat behind his contemporary styled desk, hands interlocked in thought. He swiveled slightly on his light framed chair, his eyes narrowing to analyze his visitors, "and you must be the detective Lane I've been hearing so much about..."
"I wish I could say it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Luthor, but..." Lois watched the millionaire for a reaction, the slightest flinch or quirk to show his guilt, but he simply smiled effortlessly back.
At her side, Kent was doing much the same, albeit in a somewhat more technical manner. As soon as they had entered, Clark had tuned out his normal senses and let his extra abilities take hold. His sense of smell had been heightened just enough to allow his nasal passages to perceive any change in Lex's demeanor. If they pressurized him, and he began to perspire even the slightest, Clark would know. He could see Lex's heart too, pounding blood around the Senator's body in never ending cycles. Should their queries upset him one bit, it would be reflected in his heart rate and blood pressure. The only question now was how calm could Luthor be when put on the spot?
"But?" Lex rose from his seat and offered Lane his hand anyway. "You should never pre judge anyone. I once thought Clark here held that statement close to his heart..." Lex shrugged, "even I can be wrong once..."
"Byron Moore implicated you in the Rainman killings Lex, and we have other evidence." Clark pulled out a seat set aside for visitors after offering one to Lois. He stared at the man who he had almost called a brother and felt a sadness in his soul. How can life change people so much...why? As he stared he kept a watchful eye on Luthor's vitals, but nothing changed.
It wasn't surprising, with all the martial arts techniques Lex knew, there was always the chance he could have ultimate control over his own autonomic functions, just like some people could fool a lie detector test. Either way, neither Clark nor Lois would learn anything from his reactions, or lack of them.
"I take it by other evidence, you mean the severed heads? They've already been taken to the coroner for examination, so I hear. I'm sure he'll find them intriguing, but there is no connection to me, I assure you." Lex's smug face ventured into a half smile, then he rose from his seat and opened the concealed cooler. "Anyone for a Tynant?"
Both detectives shook their heads. In this game Lex was, and always would be the winner. Lionel had taught him the art of manipulating even the most innocent of conversations, and now it was like a game of chess to him every time he spoke.
Clark inhaled. "You know about the heads because you ordered it, didn't you? How did you change from the man I knew Lex?" There was real anguish in the words as Clark stood to leave, and in that moment Lois knew it had taken a lot to come here and face his nemesis. She looked between the two men, then fleetingly back to Lex. It was strange, but somehow she sensed more hurt from him than she did even from Clark.
"Who says I was the one who changed Clark?" Lex mouthed the almost inaudible answer, then when the two detectives had safely exited his office he re-seated himself, gulping the water as he suddenly found his mouth very dry.
A headache began to seep its way across the back of his brain, not pounding, just a ceaseless dull pain. Impulsively he ran a hand over the throbbing, then reached out for the phone. His hand hovered indecisively over the receiver, then with one quick jerk he tugged it to his ear and pressed on the pre programmed number.
"Hello, Richard..." He paused, thinking of the right words, even though this was supposedly a secure line. "Kent knows too much, he's getting too close for comfort. I want someone on him as of now." Lex grew silent again as a worrying thought increased the tiny pulses of agony in his head. "Wait...belay that order..." Without bothering to give an explanation, Luthor slammed the phone back down so hard he almost smashed the cradle.
Clark was no ordinary cop, and he had once been a friend, that at least meant he deserved Lex's very personal attention...
Outside The Lane Residence.
Forty-Five Minutes Later...
Clark let the Ford slide effortlessly into the Lane driveway and turned off the ignition. It had been a long day, and he was finally dropping Lois off at her dad's before going to check on Daryl.
The Lane residence looked just as Clark imagined it would; clean, crisp, and with an air of orderliness that became the home of a retired physician. He could tell a lot about Lois from just seeing her parents' house, and he was sure if she ever visited Smallville she might think the same of his.
"Nice home," He commented, exiting the car to escort her to the door. "I wish I got over to my parents more often."
Lois shook her head, "Well my mom and dad aren't home either, they're visiting relatives in Utah. I'm just the house sitter!"
Clark smiled and turned to duck back behind the wheel, but his acute sense of smell picked up a very familiar odor on the light night breeze. The distinctive aroma of gun oil blew in from across the road, letting the detective know that it belonged to neither his, nor Lois's weapon. Instinctively he whirled around; intent on scanning the area just in case this was something more than a stray scent.
"Clark? What is it?" Lois sensed his unease, but there was no way for her to perceive the dangers he did.
"I just thought I saw something..." Slowly he began searching the darkened gardens that could hold a mystery assailant. He stopped dead when this time his ears did the detecting. From somewhere, a metallic click resounded as a .50 caliber round entered the chamber of a brand new Desert Eagle. Clark's vision had zeroed in on the sound in a millisecond, but that too was all it had taken to pull the trigger.
Kent saw the first projectile with amazing clarity, the tip of the round barreling towards him in perfect freeze frame simplicity. The thought that he was impervious to it spurred him to protect those who were not, and he dived at Lois, intending to push her behind the car and out of harms way. The plan was flawless, except for one fact he had gravely miscalculated...
As Lois hit the coarse gravel driveway with a grunt, Clark felt the first impact on his chest. It was not painless as he had expected it to be, in fact as he fell forward with its burning momentum he found his whole body wanted to spasm and contort. In a second he knew that this was no ordinary bullet, no ordinary gunman, and that someone high up knew his secret. Another shot rang out and he felt that hit home too, this time tearing through his left arm and exiting with an intense rush of pain.
Lois rolled over just as her partner took the second bullet. Blood sprayed across her face, and shocked she took a moment to react. As he slumped down beside the Ford more bullets rained from the concealed gunman, several ripping elongated gashes in the vehicle that was their only shielding. Lois wrenched out her own weapon and edged forward, noting the damage to the car as she crawled closer to Clark. If those slugs have done that to metal...
"Clark, can you hear me?"
A muffled response and a slight movement told her that he could, and that he was still alive. Now she had to make sure they had enough cover and call for backup. Bobbing her head up in a risky maneuver, she swung her weapon in an arc towards the source of the gunfire. No one fired back at her. The night remained deathly silent until neighbors began to poke their heads out in morbid curiosity.
Lois ignored them, hoping they had already had the presence of mind to call for help. "Clark?" She kneeled beside him and ripped open his shirt to look at the wound. The slug had torn into his chest, just as she had suspected, leaving an angry red puncture and lots of blood. Pressing over it with one hand she put down her gun and began to tug at the Ford's door, intent on calling in just in case the neighbors hadn't. Oh God Dad, why aren't you home when I need you...
Lane looked down and saw Clark fearfully watching her. "Just hang on; I'm calling for help..." Blood was trickling down the driveway now, but she ignored it and grabbed the in-car mike.
"No!" Clark's eyes bored into her with a pleading that put terror in her soul. "No...please call my parents...pare...nts..." He appeared to struggle to take every breath. "No doctors..."
Oh God he must be in shock, I'm losing him! For once in her life Lois wished she had followed her father's footsteps in medicine. Groping in panic she keyed the mike just as a vehicle's headlights rounded into the grove. The flash of sudden brilliance momentarily blinded her and she paused. Shielding her eyes, she looked again with new concern etched on her face.
The jet black sports car was headed straight for them, it unique shape shuddering as its driver hit the brakes at the very last second. Its gull-wing door hissed hydraulically as it opened skyward, and a figure dressed all in black stepped into the clearing. They had only met the once, but even in the shadows Lois knew this was Lex Luthor...
To Be Continued..